Customer Service Standards
In our work at MLM we come into contact with a wide variety of external contacts. We are committed to providing a high standard of service to everyone we deal with.
This standard sets out the level of service you can expect from us. If you feel we are falling short of this, please let us know. You can find our contact details on the contact section of our website or you can use the feedback form at the end of this leaflet.
Who we are
MLM is a niche insolvency practice providing a customer driven, focused approach to debt solutions. We aim to provide an impartial, efficient service to all our service users, at the same time, fulfilling our statutory obligations.
Our Values
Professional Skill and Courtesy
We will treat all everyone who comes into contact with us with courtesy and will apply our professional skill and expertise in every case we deal with.
Driven by Customer Satisfaction
We have a very wide range of service users, including creditors and people experiencing financial difficulty. The needs and expectations of our users are also varied. We will provide all our users with an efficient and timely service. We will try to meet any requirement for electronic communication where this will make us more efficient. We will ensure that all our communications with all our users are appropriate. We will not use jargon or unnecessary legal language.
Honesty and Transparency
We aim to ensure that you are fully aware of why we make the decisions we do. We will explain our legal obligations to you and will not conceal information from you unless we are bound by confidentiality - in terms of the Data Protection Act for example.
Value for Money
Our primary objective is to recover funds for creditors. We try to match the skills of our team members with the needs of each case and do not use over qualified or expensive members of staff unnecessarily.
Respect for ourselves and each other
At MLM, we are committed to improving our skills and practice. All our customer facing team members have at least 20 hours of training every year. We have respect for ourselves and for other members of our team. While we appreciate your feedback, we deal firmly with anyone who abuses team members in any way.
Our Service Standards
Office Hours
We are open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. If you phone at any other time, you can leave a message. We will respond to you within 24 hours (excluding weekends and public holidays).
The offices are open every day except 25 and 26 December, 1 and 2 January, and Easter Monday.
We provide a dedicated phone number for anyone who is looking for information about Protected Trust Deeds or Debt Management Plans. This service is available between 9am and 9pm. Please call 0800 1380707 if you want advice on any of these matters.
Telephone Calls
If you telephone during office hours,
- We try to answer all calls promptly, normally within 6 rings
- We answer using our standard greeting: 'Good morning/afternoon. MLM, (Name) speaking, how can I help you?'
- If the person you want to speak to is not available, another team member will take a message or deal with your enquiry if it is a simple one. If that person cannot answer your question, you will receive a reply within 24 hours. If, for any reason, we cannot do this, you will be told why and when you will receive a response
Mail and E mails
If you contact us by letter, e mail or fax,
- We will respond to 90% of all correspondence within 10 working days of receipt. We will respond to the remainder within 20 working days of receipt
- If the team member responsible for the case you are asking about is on holiday or other leave, his/her team leader will deal with any urgent matters
- We will use plain English in all our responses
Visitors to our Offices
If you visit our offices you can expect
- To be treated with courtesy and professional skill
- To be seen within 10 minutes of any appointment you have made in advance
- To be seen in a private interview room for any appointment made in advance
- If you have not made an appointment, someone will see you within 15 minutes of your arrival and attempt to deal with your enquiry or make an appointment. We cannot guarantee that you will be able to see the person dealing with your case if you have not made an appointment nor can we guarantee that a private interview room will be available
Our Livingston office is accessible for people with mobility difficulties. We are sorry but our Glasgow office is not. Neither office has induction loop facilities.
If you are unhappy with our service
Insolvency can be a difficult process and sometimes, tough decisions have to be taken. Sometimes, these can be upsetting. You can complain to the team member dealing with your case. However, if you are still unhappy, we ask you to put your complaint in writing so that it can be investigated fully. If writing is difficult for you, for example, if English is not your first language, please contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau for help.
We will
- acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days
- investigate the background
- ask you for additional information in certain circumstances
- provide a full response within 10 working days
- if for any reason we cannot respond within that time frame, you will be told why and when you should expect a response
If we have made a mistake, it will be rectified and you will receive an apology. Sometimes, people complain because they do not have a complete understanding of the law governing our work. If this is the case, we will provide a clear explanation of the matters affecting our duties in plain English.
Your complaint will be investigated by your trustee (or the office holder in a corporate case). If you are still unhappy, you can ask another insolvency practitioner within the company to review it again. Please refer to our website for details of our insolvency practitioners.
MLM CPS Limited works in a highly regulated environment. If we cannot resolve your complaint, you may bring the matter to the attention of a number of organisations.
MLM CPS is a member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association, the IPA (www.insolvency-practitioners.org). Maureen Leslie and Antonia McIntyre are licensed by IPA and complaints can be made to IPA if you feel they have failed in their professional duty in some way. However, you must first allow them to resolve the matter before you contact IPA. Please refer to IPA website for further details.
George Paton is licensed by Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). Please refer to www.icas.org for details of how to complain about practitioners regulated by ICAS. Please note that, as with IPA, you should first allow Mr Paton to resolve any matter of dispute before you contact ICAS.